OC jobless rate dips to 6.2 percent

Sept. 20, 2013

Updated 5:32 p.m.

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A group of young men take a class to hone their job-hunting skills at Youth Employment Service in Costa Mesa. The program then helps provide job referrals to employers. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Job seekers get help with their resumes at the Anaheim/OC Job Fair and Expo at the Anaheim Convention Center in June. Paul Bersebach

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A group of young men take a class to hone their job-hunting skills at Youth Employment Service in Costa Mesa. The program then helps provide job referrals to employers. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Kathy Du Vernet, is the executive director of Youth Employment Service (YES) in Costa Mesa. The program helps youth hone their job-hunting skills and provides job referrals to employers. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Teddy Wison, 18, left, Brandon Perreault, 20, and Jonathan Martinez, 19, all of Costa Mesa take a workshop to hone their job-hunting skills at Youth Employment Service in Costa Mesa. The program then helps provide job referrals to employers as well as interview wardrobes and Internet access. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Anne Jenkins is an accountant who has been job hunting since January. At age 59, Jenkins senses age discrimination in some employers who have interviewed her. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

A group of young men take a class to hone their job-hunting skills at Youth Employment Service in Costa Mesa. The program then helps provide job referrals to employers. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Orange County businesses added 7,700 jobs in August, due in part to a boom in tourism and a rebound in the housing market.

The county's unemployment rate ticked down to 6.2 percent in August, from 6.5 percent in July, according to the state Employment Development Department. California's jobless rate stood at 8.9 percent and the nation's at 7.3 percent.

Over the past year, local employment has grown by 2.3 percent, outpacing California and the United States overall.

The county's recovery is broad-based, with most major industries reporting new hiring over the past year. The financial sector, which includes mortgage refinancing, experienced the biggest expansion, with an additional 7,700 jobs. Construction added 6,900 jobs, mostly in specialty trades. Leisure and hospitality businesses grew by 6,500 jobs.

Nonetheless, Orange County, like the nation overall, has yet to fully regain its pre-recession prosperity. The number of payroll jobs remains 90,700 below the August 2006 high.

“In Southern California, our projections tell us we won't get back to the pre-recession employment peak until late 2014 or 2015,” said Economist Robert Kleinhenz of the Kyser Center for Economic Research in Los Angeles.

“We expect San Diego and Orange County to be first in surpassing pre-peak numbers, with the other counties likely to follow.”

Unemployment remains highest among workers younger than 25, especially those without a college degree. “For young people we haven't seen the needle move a whole lot,” said Kathy Du Vernet, executive director of Youth Employment Service (YES), a Costa Mesa nonprofit.

On Thursday, three young men attended one of the group's workshops, which teach skills such as résumé drafting and appropriate interview attire. YES offers mock interviews and refers students to jobs posted with the agency by hotels, retailers and other employers.

But the number of youths taking classes has dipped from a pre-recession high of about 700 a year, to about 600. “Young people are to some extent discouraged,” Du Vernet said. “During the recession, older folks were willing to take entry-level jobs and that pushed young people out.”

Alex Tena, 26, was laid off from his job at a Santa Ana Netflix distribution center in 2011, after four years. Since then, he has earned certificates in computer maintenance and business administration, took an unpaid internship at a law firm and worked at temp jobs in data entry and shipping and receiving.

Still, he remains unemployed and lives with his parents. “I applied everywhere and anywhere,” he said. “I registered with 20 staffing agencies. In three months, I've had only five actual interviews … but I'm not going to stop trying.”

Over-50 job seekers also face competition. Anne Jenkins, a 59-year-old accountant, left her job in 2011 to care for her dying mother. She has tried to return to the workforce for the past year. Employers “have questions about my age,” she said. “They don't come right out and say it, but they say, ‘Hmm. How long do you think you'll work?' It is a rat race out there.”

On Thursday, Jenkins interviewed at Accountemps, an Irvine agency which places finance professionals in temporary jobs. “I just need to get in somebody's door to show them what I can do,” she said.

Brett Good, senior district president for Robert Half International, which owns Accountemps, said demand is high for auditors, digital media professionals and regulatory and compliance professionals, reflecting the growth of Orange County's service industries. “Companies are becoming more astute in how to use contract workers,” he said, noting that some of the job growth will come in temporary jobs.

Finance jobs, however, are unlikely to continue to multiply as rapidly as they have, according to Adibi, the Chapman economist. With interest rates rising, mortgage refinancing has dried up, and banks are laying off workers, he said.

“But those losses should be offset by an improvement in public education employment,” Adibi added. In the past year, Orange County's government sector experienced a sluggish growth of less than 1 percent. However, with state revenues rising, and new education spending set, government jobs are expected to increase.

“Orange County's economic recovery is on solid footing,” said Wallace Walrod, chief economic advisor to the Orange County business council. “It bodes well for continued job creation for the rest of 2013.”

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